We are happy to introduce you to the “interactive renewable energy toolkit” – the iRET.

Practical Action Consulting has produced the iRET for Oxfam and Christian Aid to assist them in building the skills and knowledge of their staff and partners to deliver energy access projects for poverty reduction worldwide. We hope that the iRET will also be useful to other development practitioners - including you.

The iRET includes four sections with content on:

Energising DevelopmentThe importance of energy for poor people’s lives and livelihoods, describing what life is like without access to modern energy and how people use energy to improve their lives;

Energy in ActionThe range of renewable energy technologies for development, focusing on small-scale decentralised renewable energy projects that are most appropriate for people living in poverty;

Design to DeliverA project cycle, from identification through to evaluation, which provides practical guidelines and tools for delivering energy access projects.

Money MattersThe ways that NGOs and energy enterprises can get finance to fund projects and programmes, the types of finance that may be suitable, and the way they can make them accessible to consumers of energy products and services.

The iRET is produced using CD ROM software – so is perfect for people in some developing countries with no internet or a slow connection. It has an engaging interface and the dynamic navigation of content makes it easy and interesting to use. The iRET features:

numerous short films from Practical Action and the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy showing successful renewable energy enterprises and programmes from around the world;

audio clips that introduce and discuss;

key resources from Practical Action and other organisations embedded as pdfs that are available at the click of your mouse;

Please note that the iRET file is an extremely large file (520 MB), partly due to the many short films it contains. The speed of the download will depend on your internet connection, and could take many hours. We recommend that you use a download manager to improve your download. Without a download manager, an internet connection failure whilst downloading will cause the download to fail and you will have to start the download from the beginning. The iRET is designed for use on Windows operating systems and does NOT work on Apple computers.

For a copy of the CD ROM, please send a stamp addressed envelope to Practical Action Consulting or email us at iret@practicalaction.org.uk.

Copyright

This Interactive Renewable Energy Toolkit was jointly commissioned by Oxfam and Christian Aid and produced by Practical Action Consulting.

We encourage users to reproduce and disseminate the material in the toolkit so long as it is not done for commercial purposes. In reproducing the material proper citation should be made, the material be used accurately and Oxfam, Christian Aid and Practical Action be acknowledged equally. Please note however that permission to reproduce figures and tables that are referenced to other authors should be obtained from the relevant copyright holder. Reproduction of any part of this publication for commercial use is not authorised without the written permission of Practical Action.

The toolkit is available to the public through Practical Action's online knowledge sharing site, Practical Answers, and the websites of Oxfam and Christian Aid.